


Seize and Desist

by sahiya



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: FebuWhump2021, Gen, Hiding Medical Issues, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Seizures, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29402970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sahiya/pseuds/sahiya
Summary: It wasn't that Tony deliberately hid his post-snap seizure disorder from Peter. It was just that the kid had enough on his plate as it was. Besides, Tony had the best medical team on the planet working on it, and once they figured it out, there wouldn’t be anything to tell.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142057
Comments: 11
Kudos: 232
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Seize and Desist

**Author's Note:**

> For Febuwhump Day 13: hiding an injury. 
> 
> Unbeta'd, but many thanks to kaybee988 for helping me come up with the title!

The first time it happened, Tony was still bedridden in Wakanda. It was three days after he’d finally woken from his month-long coma, and the only person in the room with him was Pepper. It felt like the first time they’d been alone since he’d woken up, though it was possible it wasn’t; Tony’s memories of the first twenty-four hours were pretty hazy.

She’d climbed up on the bed with him, and he’d put the one arm he had left around her. Tony didn’t know exactly what Pepper was thinking, but _he_ was thinking about just how close he’d come to losing this. He _would_ have lost it if not for a lot of luck, Cho had said, and a lot of Wakandan medicine that not even she fully understood. 

They were talking about whether they should move back to the city so he could be closer to Peter, when the bottoms of his feet suddenly tingled. A black band descended across his vision, and he flushed hot and cold all over, like an instant fever. 

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back on the bed, staring up at Shuri, Helen, and Bruce. His head was pounding, and he felt weighted down with fatigue.

“What the hell was that?” he asked, voice raspy and rough. 

“That,” Bruce said, “was a seizure.” He glanced at Cho, who was scrolling through something on a portable med scanner. “Helen?”

“Brain activity is back to normal,” she reported. 

“We did notice some odd electrical activity while you were comatose,” Shuri said. “But we hoped that it would resolve itself once you were well enough to wake.”

Tony lifted his head, searching for Pepper, and found her at the foot of his bed. Her arms were crossed over her chest, hands drawn up into the sleeves of her sweater. She looked very pale. “Pep,” he said, extending a hand toward her. 

She came forward and took it. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay. Tired.” Tony looked back at the others. “Is it going to happen again?”

The three of them looked at each other. “It’s difficult to say,” Cho finally said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Great,” Tony sighed. 

It happened again. The second time, he was walking in the gardens with Pepper, and he had just enough warning to sit down before he collapsed. The third time, they were back home at the lake house; he was alone, since Pepper had taken Morgan into town to go grocery shopping. He lay down when he felt it coming on and woke up a few minutes later. 

There was no rhyme or reason to it that any of them could discern. Cho had him track the times of day the seizures happened, what he was doing when they came on, what he’d eaten in the twenty-four hours preceding them, how much sleep he’d gotten –– but there wasn’t any pattern. 

“It’s possible that this is something you’re going to have to live with,” Bruce told him bluntly. They were sitting on the porch, watching Morgan run around the lawn with her giant bubble hoops. Solo parenting –– like driving, swimming, and flying –– was currently off limits to him. “Like the arm.”

“I can build myself a new arm,” Tony replied with a sniff. “I can’t build myself a new brain.”

Bruce gave him a look. “You don’t need to build yourself a new brain. Lots of people have seizures, Tony, and most of them are able to control them with medication. There is a lot that we haven’t tried.”

Tony nodded. He knew that was true. And yet. 

“It’s not fucking fair.”

“No,” Bruce agreed quietly. “It’s not.”

***

He didn’t mean to not tell Peter. He kind of wasn’t telling _anyone_ , not even Rhodey. He wasn’t ashamed, but he was pissed off about it, and he didn’t want anyone treating him like he was made of spun glass. He could just barely deal with Pepper’s concern, but if he had to deal with anyone else’s he was going to lose his shit. 

Besides, the kid wasn’t doing well. Not that he was obvious about it. Peter wasn’t the type of person to take his pain out on others –– in fact, the more pain he was in, the more he threw himself into helping. He was spending hours in the suit, Tony could see from the logs, web swinging himself into exhaustion. He wasn’t really talking much, either, May reported. 

So... Peter had enough going on, Tony decided. And in fact, since Tony couldn’t seem to get Peter to return his calls, there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity to tell him, even if he had wanted to. He and Pepper were still thinking about moving back to the city, but for now they were at the lake house, so they weren’t seeing each other very much. 

This was what he told himself. Peter was a superhero but he was also still a kid, and kids didn’t need to know everything. Tony had Bruce, Cho, and Shuri –– three of the best minds on the planet –– all working on it, and once they figured it out, there wouldn’t be anything to tell. 

***

“FRIDAY, call Peter.”

“Sure thing, boss.” There was a pause. “He’s not picking up.”

Tony frowned. He had real time data from Peter’s suit pulled up on the monitor in front of him. He knew that Peter had been sitting in the same spot in Queens for the last twenty minutes, seemingly motionless and doing nothing. “Force it through.”

“You got it.” There was a _click_ as the call connected, and Tony heard Peter saying, _No, wait, Karen, don’t –– shit._

“Hi kid,” Tony said mildly. 

“Hi Tony,” Peter said, sounding resigned. 

“You know, I remember a time when you were _excited_ to hear from me,” Tony said. “Now I can’t even get you to pick up the phone. Did I fuck up somehow? Because if I did, I’d really rather you told me so I can start planning an extravagant apology gift that will inevitably backfire and piss you off even more.”

Peter didn’t laugh. “You didn’t fuck up. I’m just... being stupid.”

“I doubt that. Anything you want to talk about?”

There was a long silence. “No,” he finally said. 

“Okay,” Tony said. “Well. Let me know if that changes.”

Peter made a noncommittal noise. “Was there a reason you called?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. We’re coming down to the city this weekend, to tour some schools for Morgan. I wanted to see if you wanted to get in some lab time.”

“Schools for Morgan. You’re moving back to the city?” 

“That’s the plan. It’s time, I think. Morgan needs to be with kids her own age. And,” Tony added, suppressing a shiver of hesitation, “I’d like to be closer to you,” 

“You... do?” Peter said, sounding so surprised that Tony was frankly a little insulted. 

“Yeah, kid, I do. If that’s okay with you.”

“It’s okay with me,” Peter said. “And, um, yeah. Lab time would be great.”

“Good. Come over on Saturday for brunch, and we’ll hit the workshop in the afternoon. You could even stay over Saturday night if you wanted. Morgan’s been missing you.”

“Oh,” Peter said. “Yeah. Okay. Let me just check with May.”

Tony had already checked with May, but he didn’t say so. If Peter didn’t want to stay over, he wasn’t to force him. “Sure, Pete. Just let me know.”

After they’d hung up, Tony sat in his chair, staring at his workbench. The truth was that he hadn’t touched anything except his prosthetic arm since he’d come back. He didn’t _think_ he was going to have a seizure and burn the garage down, but once Pepper had brought up the possibility, it’d been hard to forget. 

Four days ago, Bruce had brought an orange bottle full of specially synthesized pills up to the lakehouse, and Tony had taken his first one. He and Helen and Shuri were cautiously optimistic –– and after four seizure-free days, so was Tony. It’d been almost a week since his last. It could be coincidence; the longest he’d gone between them since coming out of his coma was five days. 

In the end, Tony left the garage without doing anything. The weekend would be here soon enough. 

***

With each passing day, Tony felt more confident about the medication Bruce, Shuri, and Helen had synthesized. Bruce urged him to be cautious, and Tony was –– relatively speaking –– but by the time they left for the city on Friday afternoon, he was going on ten days without a seizure. 

Maybe for once in his life, something would just be easy. He wouldn’t have to invent a new element or design a state of the art suit of armor or energy source or prosthetic arm. He could just take a pill once a day — one that other people had invented, no less. 

He should have known better, but he was in such a good mood on Saturday. May and Happy joined them for brunch, which was bagels and lox and cream cheese from Zabar’s. Peter sat next to Morgan, and Tony didn’t even try to hide that he was staring at them and reveling in all kinds of _dad_ feelings. He didn’t care who saw. These were his kids, alive and in one place. 

After brunch, Pepper took Morgan to the park and Peter and Tony went to the workshop. Tony let Peter open up his arm and get a look inside for the first time; it was vibranium –– a gift from T’Challa –– and based on the design for Barnes’s arm, albeit with a few Tony Stark twists. 

Peter had been quiet at brunch and he was quieter now than Tony could ever remember him being. He was used to the workshop being filled with Peter’s not-so-inner monologue while he worked, but today Peter was noticeably subdued, even though working together was as seamless as it had ever been. 

“So, you have a date yet for going back to school?” Tony asked as he fitted his prosthesis back on. 

“The first, it looks like,” Peter said. 

“You looking forward to it?”

He shrugged. 

“Words, Pete,” Tony reminded him, trying to sound light. “You used to have a lot of those.”

“I know,” Peter said quietly. He spun slowly back and forth on his stool. “May’s worried because I’m not talking much, isn’t she?”

“Maybe. She just wants to know what’s going on with you. So do I, for that matter.”

Peter was quiet. “I don’t want to make things harder for anyone. You have enough on your plate. So does May.”

“You’re not a burden, Peter,” Tony told him gently. “We’re so glad to have you back. I invented time travel to get you back.”

Peter smiled wanly. “You keep saying that.”

“Well, it’s true. And I don’t want to pressure you into talking if you’re not ready, but I really think you should ––”

Tony stopped. The bottoms of his feet were tingling.

“Tony?” Peter said. 

There was the black band, descending across his vision. Jesus Christ, this couldn’t be happening. Not _now_. He was sitting on a stool with no back, he realized, and stood up. The sofa was his best option. Barring that, the floor. 

He also had _maybe_ ten seconds to convince Peter to leave the room. “Hey kid, do me a favor and go upstairs and get me a soda, will you?” 

“A soda?” Peter repeated, sounding baffled. “But you were just ––”

“Just do it, Peter,” Tony snapped, and sat down on the sofa. He flushed hot and cold all over, breaking out in a sweat. 

“Um, no,” Peter said. “I don’t think I will. What the hell is –– what the –– Tony! _Tony!_ ”

The last thing Tony saw before he lost consciousness was Peter’s pale face, his eyes wide with shock, leaning over him. 

***

“–– waking up. What should I do?”

Tony blinked up at the ceiling. He was lying on the sofa in the workshop. That was Peter’s voice nearby, and his hand holding so tight to Tony’s that it almost hurt. His head ached and he felt fatigued in a way that had grown familiar. 

“Okay,” Peter was saying. “Okay. Yeah. See you soon.” He disconnected his phone. “Are you back with me?”

“Yep,” Tony said. 

“Pepper said I should take you upstairs and put you on the couch and get you some Gatorade.” Peter sounded remarkably calm, all things considered. Too calm. “Can you walk or should I carry you?”

“I can walk.” Tony sat up, slowly, and pressed a hand to his throbbing head. 

Peter helped him stand and took most of his weight while he adjusted to his new altitude. Then they made their way slowly and carefully over to the elevator, which FRIDAY had waiting for them. He didn’t say a word, but Tony could feel him thrumming with tension. 

In the penthouse, Peter put Tony on the couch and then piled cushions under his feet so they were raised above his heart. Then he went and got him a Gatorade from the fridge. He cracked it open and handed it to him. 

“Pete,” Tony said, once he’d taken his first swig. 

“Don’t,” Peter said. 

“We’re gonna have to talk about it,” Tony persisted, knowing it was true. 

Peter shook his head, lips pressed together, jaw in a stubborn line. 

“I wasn’t trying to keep it from you,” Tony said, because even if Peter wouldn’t talk, he couldn’t stop Tony from talking. 

But the elevator door opened, and Pepper and Morgan emerged. “Daddy!” Morgan yelled, making a beeline for the sofa. Peter got up and moved out of the way. 

“Gentle, Morgan,” Pepper called, shrugging out of her coat and picking up Morgan’s where she’d dropped it on the floor. 

Morgan slowed, then climbed up carefully onto Tony, tucking herself in between Tony and the back of the sofa. 

“Did you have fun at the park?” Tony asked her. 

“Mmm hmm. We saw the duckies and the swans. One of the swans was a bully! He kept chasing the ducks. I yelled at him.”

Tony smiled. “Good job, Morguna.” He looked up and saw Pepper standing with her hands on her hips. “Sorry,” he said. 

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I should have stuck around. I just thought...”

“Yeah. Me too. I’ll call Bruce in a bit and give him the bad news.” Tony sighed and looked back toward Peter, intending to apologize to him, too, and maybe try to explain himself again. But he wasn’t there. “Shit. Where did Peter go?”

Pepper turned around. “He was just here. Did he get in the elevator?”

“We would’ve heard it. FRIDAY?”

“Rooftop, boss,” FRIDAY said, which made sense. There was a spiral staircase in the far corner of the living room that led up to the rooftop deck and garden. “His heart rate is elevated and he appears to be in some emotional distress, but he has requested solitude.”

“Yeah, screw that.” Tony started to sit up. 

Pepper pressed him back into the sofa. “Drink your Gatorade,” she told him firmly. “He asked for a few minutes alone, let’s give them to him. FRIDAY will let us know if anything changes with Peter –– right, FRIDAY?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Tony didn’t like it, but it seemed faster not to argue and just drink his Gatorade. He also took the Advil Pepper handed him. The only good thing about the seizures was that he recovered pretty quickly, and the lingering headaches responded to over-the-counter medication. 

By the time he’d drained the bottle of Gatorade, he felt well enough to stand up under his own power and climb the stairs to the rooftop. He felt Pepper’s worried gaze on him the whole time. 

It took him a few seconds to locate Peter, but eventually he found him on a bench, staring out at the expanse of Central Park. It was looking pretty bare –– much like the rooftop garden –– and a little desolate under the gray winter sky. Tony was already wishing he’d grabbed coats for both himself and Peter, who wore only a sweatshirt and jeans and tended to get chilled easily. 

He sat down next to him on the bench. Peter immediately ducked his head down, as though he was trying to hide his face.

For nearly a minute, neither of them spoke. “It started happening when I first woke up,” Tony finally said. “We don’t really know why, except that the snap obviously messed with how my brain is wired. Bruce, Helen, and Shuri came up with a medication for me to try, and I hadn’t had one in about ten days, so I was feeling... complacent, I guess. We were working on it, and I knew from talking to May that you weren’t in a great place, so I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want you to worry.”

Peter nodded, looking down. 

“I’m realizing now that that was kind of hypocritical of me, and I’m sorry. I should have told you before we spent any time together one-on-one. You shouldn’t have been taken by surprise like that.”

Peter swallowed. He finally lifted his head so that Tony could see his tear-streaked face. “You wanted to know what’s going on with me. I’m really fucked in the head from watching you almost die after the snap. I heard your heart stop. I was sure I was going to lose you, just like I lost Ben. And today, you just –– you just keeled over, and I thought –– for a few seconds, until FRIDAY told me what was happening, I really thought ––” 

His voice cracked. Tony put his arm around him and pulled him close, holding Peter’s head to his collarbone, just beneath his chin, with his vibranium hand. “Oh kid, I’m so sorry,” Tony said. “I didn’t even think about that. I’m so, so sorry. I promise I’m okay. The first medication didn’t work, but we’re going to get it right. And you did great –– you did exactly what you should’ve done.”

Peter’s grip on him tightened. “They’re not... they’re not dangerous?”

“Well, I can’t drive or fly or swim at the moment for obvious reasons, but the seizures themselves don’t seem to be.”

“Okay.” Peter gave him an extra squeeze and sat up. 

“Okay,” Tony agreed. “Ready to go inside where it’s warm?”

Peter nodded. Together they got up and headed back inside. 

***

They spent the afternoon watching movies with Morgan while Pepper did some work in her office. Tony napped on the sofa, sandwiched between his kids, and woke up feeling more or less back to normal. 

After dinner, he and Peter went back down to the lab. Pepper had told FRIDAY to cut them off at midnight, but they had a good few hours, at least. 

Bruce called back while they were working on a prototype for a modified webshooter. “Take it to speaker, FRI,” Tony said. “Hey, Big Green.”

“Hi, Dr. Banner!” Peter chimed in. 

“Hi, you two,” Bruce replied. “Tony, I just got your message. How are you feeling?”

“All right,” Tony said. “I think we might be on the right track –– I definitely went longer between seizures than I had been. But we need to keep tweaking.”

“Clearly,” Bruce said with a sigh. “Can we see you at the compound next week? I’d like to do some scans to share with Shuri and Helen while you’re on the medication.”

“Sure,” Tony said, opening up the family calendar from his phone. He flicked through the holographic screen, looking at their schedule for the next week. “Shit, Pepper has meetings. I can ask Happy or see if he has someone else who can ––”

“I can drive you,” Peter said suddenly. 

Tony looked at him. “What?”

“I have my learner’s permit,” Peter said. “I mean, I did. I guess I should see if it’s still valid. But I was learning to drive in the city, which is way harder than the roads to the compound. And school isn’t starting until the week after next. I can drive you to the compound. If –– if you’re okay with that.”

“I’m okay with that,” Tony said. “You should see what Bruce and Helen and Shuri have been up to, anyway. Might as well put that big brain of yours to use on the problem.”

Peter turned a little red and ducked his head, like he was embarrassed. “Okay.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Bruce said. “Let’s aim for Tuesday? Let me know if you have any issues between now and then.”

“That works. See you then.” Tony disconnected.

“Is that okay?” Peter asked. “I didn’t want to –– to overstep.”

“You didn't overstep, kid,” Tony said. “Are you sure this is okay for you, though? The medical stuff is kind of iffy when it’s someone you care about.”

Peter nodded. “I think it’ll help. Plus, working with Dr. Banner and Dr. Cho and Shuri is like –– like ––”

“Playing basketball with the 1992 Olympic team?” Tony suggested. 

Peter’s nose wrinkled. “God, you’re so old. I was going to say it was like being a member of the scientific Avengers.”

Tony threw a wadded up sketch at him. Peter caught it, of course. He grinned at him, looking for a moment much more like the kid Tony remembered. The kid he’d given so much to bring home to him. 

“Come on, kid. We’ve got two and a half hours before Pepper shuts the lights out on us,” Tony said, turning back to the computer. “Let’s see what we can get done.”

_Fin._

**Author's Note:**

> Next up: sleep deprivation!


End file.
